Page 13 of Skyblossom
Chapter 6
THE MAGIC GROVE
SUMMER
Cadence showed up before I could clean up the mess, the alchemy lab swirling with activity right now, and she looked horrified at me when she came around the corner under the old brick archway.
“Oh, saints, that’s horrible,” she said, and I puffed out my chest.
“Thanks, it was my best work.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. Look at you, you’re all singed.” She tugged a little cloth from her herbalism kit, a delicate thing with enchantments shimmering off of it, and she dabbed at my face. I admit it wasn’t like I hated being spoiled with a beautiful woman fussing over me, her eyes up close studying my face as she wiped away smudges of black and brown that sparkled on the cloth before vanishing. “Did it hurt?” she said, and I couldn’t help it.
“When I fell from heaven?”
She smiled, wiping one more time over the bridge of my nose before she stepped back, nodding appreciatively. I guess I must have looked better. “Not that,” she said. “Obviously you’re too graceful and you must have landed safely when that happened. Imeanwhen your alchemy lab exploded.”
“I got a little ping in the forehead, but if it leaves a mark, I’ll just say it’s my third eye.”
“I have another Galyr’s tooth on me if you’re hurt. But I wouldn’t want to shut your third eye.” She turned back to the alchemy station, touching her wand to the surface, and it glimmered with magic, sparkling out over the surface, as enchantments filtered through into the materials. I watched as the station rebuilt itself, sweeping up the soot and ash and caustic reagent dust, and after a few seconds, it was good as new, Cadence inspecting it before she nodded, putting her wand away.
Damn, though, I was a real sucker for a girl who was good with practical magic.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work,” she said, turning back to me, her gaze on the floor as she put her wand back. “Were the samples not good enough?”
“Oh—oh, no, that’s not it at all. I just screwed it up.”
“I doubt that.”
“Well, reach deep into your heart and believe. Don’t worry, I screw up all the time,” I laughed, and I sank back against the wall by the tall, arched window that was cracked open to the wind in the tree branches. “It’s kind of my thing. I’m always on the hunt for new designs, for new extensions. Sometimes it works, and it’s amazing when it does. Sometimes… well, sometimes it blows up instead. I figured it was about even odds with this one.”
“Oh.” She scrunched up her face in thought. “That’s… bold, taking even odds on an explosion to the face.”
“I’m nothing if not bold. So…” I clasped my hands together. “I wanted to ask your help. I know I already did, and I’m ready to pay you back for as much of it as you’ll let me.”
“I told you, you don’t need to pay me back. We’re…” She stopped herself, flushing a little, as she looked down. “Um, I mean, we’re… reliable partners in procurement.”
I grinned. “You can say friends.”
“Okay, thank the saints, I wasn’t sure if I was getting too presumptuous,” she laughed nervously. She was so cute all shy and embarrassed like this. I really shouldn’t have been asking her this, considering the fact that I kind of wanted to kiss her, but I asked her anyway.
“I need your help finding something.”
She perked up. “Another herbological compound? What is it? I might have some leads. Well, I probably do. I tend to know a thing or two about these compounds.”
I opened my bag on the table, rummaging through my books, and I pulled out my alchemy notebook, flipping it open and passing it to her. She went wide-eyed, taking it in both hands and poring through it, even Knot perking up on her shoulder to look over the list.
“Um… which one?” she said.
“Any of them. Or all of them.”
“Are you going to blow yourself up for each one of these?”
I grinned. “All but one.”
She turned the page. “You don’t mean these too—”
“Oh, I mean those too.”
